Nintendo is planning to take pre-orders for the Wii U as early as next week, according to a new rumor.

According to a GameStop employee who allegedly spoke with GoNintendo, the Wii U is set to release during "the week of Black Firday". That's November 23, 2012 for those of us in the United States.

While it'd be great for Nintendo to take advantage of the increased spending around that time, most people are looking for extreme deals. Will the Wii U launch at regular price and then Nintendo immediately offer some sort of price deal for Black Friday?

Nintendo has yet to announce a price for the Wii U, but if it is more on the expensive side then Black Friday could provide a way for Nintendo to temporarily lower the price and encourage people to buy the console immediately at launch. Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has repeatedly stated that the Wii U's pricing is the "most important element" and that Nintendo would seek a "reasonable" price for their new console.

In addition to the Wii U pre-order and release speculation, the source also suppied a GameStop price listing. The $99.99 prices are likely placeholders, but the $49.99 prices are supposedly the real price.